Peter Plogojwitz

A document containing Frombald`s account of the event was published by a viennese newspaper thus becoming one of the first official files on vampires. It was later translated and spread across the world.

Peter Plogojowitz was a serbian peasant that lived in the village Kisilova [now possibly Kisiljevo] and died in 1725.
He was quickly followed into the grave by others. About a week after his burial the village was struck by a mysterious illness that took 9 people in 8 days. In each case it would take approximately 24 hours for the disease to kill them, but some of them had the time to sustain that Peter was visiting them during the night.
Even his wife said he has come to her asking for food. She later moved out of the village.
The peasants decided to dug him up and examine him for the traditional signs of vampirism.
Because at that time the region was under austrian administration they felt that the priest wasn`t enough, so they asked for the assistance of a representative of the authorities.
Frombald tried to delay the actions motivating that they first needed the approval from the austrian empire but the people said they were afraid for their lives and that the village might be decimated before the notice arrived.
Since more and more families threatened that they would leave the surroundings if nothing was done about the vampire among them, Frombald had to participate in the ritual.
The body was disinterred and indisputable signs of vampirism [according to the legends of those times] were found on the body of Peter Plogojwitz.

Frombald reported that when they brought the corpse up for examination they were shocked to find that the body was undecomposed, the hair and beard were grown, there were “new skin and nails” [while the old ones had peeled away], and blood could be seen in the mouth.
They stacked the body through the heart and a great amount of [what appeared to be] blood flowed through the mouth and the ears. The body was later burned to ash.

Frombald concludes his report on the case with the request that, in case these actions were found to be wrong, he should not be blamed for them, as the villagers were “beside themselves with fear”. The authorities apparently did not consider it necessary to take any measures regarding the incident.

NOTE:
The document was supposed to have been published by Wienerisches Diarium, a Viennese newspaper, today known as Die Wiener Zeitung.